“When Rosalinda Cardenas was a kid, her parents warned her often:
Stay away from the Pacoima Wash. A few blocks from her home
on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, the concrete-encased flood control
channel was barricaded by rusty chain-link fences, broken glass
and garbage.”
“After more than a year of delay, critical work to strengthen
levees in Sacramento’s Natomas Basin is authorized to resume
following a crucial vote Tuesday in Congress.”
“The House of Representatives, on a vote of 412-4, approved
legislation to move an array of Sacramento-area flood control
projects forward, concluding [Rep. Doris] Matsui’s nearly
four-year quest for the bill.”
“We all — well, most of us — know that global warming means a
higher risk of coastal flooding, particularly in low-lying areas
susceptible to increasingly intense storm systems.
“There’s no easy fix for the National Flood Insurance Program,
now drowning in a $24 billion sea of red ink.
“But experts and advocates say Congress does have some options
that could make the troubled program financially stable, more
affordable and more effective at motivating change in
communities built too close to the water.”
“Earlier this month, Congress sought to ease their fears of
sky-high premiums by rolling back a 2012 reform ending the
government’s costly practice of offering subsidized insurance for
older homes and businesses in flood zones. The president signed
the bill Friday.”
“President Barack Obama is set to sign into law a bipartisan
bill relieving homeowners living in flood-prone neighborhoods
from big increases in their insurance bills.
“The legislation, which cleared Congress on Thursday, reverses
much of a 2012 overhaul of the government’s much-criticized
flood insurance program after angry homeowners facing sharp
premium hikes protested.”
“The Senate voted 72 to 22 Thursday to pass a flood insurance
bill that will roll back sharp premium increases to homeowners
that were implemented as part of a federal overhaul of the flood
insurance program.”
“We’re getting there, but there should still be extra
consideration for farms and agriculture infrastructure in
floodplains. …
“What you should have in floodplains is not cities, but farms.
And of course, if you have farms, you have to have equipment,
some structures, some homes.
“The House of Representatives, in a bipartisan vote of 306-91
Tuesday night, agreed to limit premium rate increases under the
National Flood Insurance Program.
“The bill must still pass the Senate or be reconciled with a
version of flood insurance legislation that the chamber
approved in January.”
“Over a period of several decades, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers encased the Los Angeles River in concrete to protect
the region against the kind of flooding that had surprised and
damaged the city in the 1930s — but also, crucially, to withstand
the rare but even more torrential floods that were known to sweep
across the basin every generation or so.”
“House Republican leaders have cleared the way for a floor vote
on a bill that would roll back portions of a 2012 overhaul of the
federal flood insurance program, offering hundreds of thousands
of property owners relief from sharp premium hikes.”
“The Senate on Thursday passed legislation to delay steep
increases in homeowners’ federal flood insurance premiums, which
were put in place less than two years ago to stabilize the
federal flood insurance program.”
“Garden patches at the Boronda Crossing Shopping Center have a
big job. Beyond their aesthetic appeal, the plants and rock form
a bioswale — in effect, a filter — intended to reduce pollutants
in rainwater runoff from entering creeks, estuaries and the
Monterey Bay.”
